Alec Baldwin's 'Rust' assistant director David Halls gets 6-month probation for fatal shooting on movie set
SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO: David Halls, the former assistant director of the movie 'Rust,' has been sentenced to a six-month suspended jail term after pleading no contest to a lesser charge in the fatal shooting that resulted in manslaughter charges against the film’s star, Alec Baldwin. Halls was charged with unsafe handling of a deadly weapon, to which he entered a plea of no contest.
His attorney, Lisa Torraco, noted that the plea wasn’t "guilty,” but an acknowledgment that the state could persuade a jury that he was. Torraco said her client is wracked with “survivor’s guilt” and asked for a deferred sentence to allow him to move on with his life, the Law & Crime reported.
READ MORE
Halls was entrusted to check the gun was only loaded with 'dummy' bullets
During the hearing, special prosecutor Kari Morrissey noted that Halls had decades of experience in his job as the safety coordinator on the set of 'Rust.' Morrissey stated that Halls was entrusted to check and confirm that the gun was only loaded with “dummy” rather than “live” rounds, but he did not.
According to Morrissey, Halls had checked the gun and confirmed that it was empty and unloaded before handing it back to armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who then loaded it with what people believed to be “dummy rounds.”
Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed still face prosecution over their alleged roles in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who was fatally shot on the set of “Rust” on Oct 21, 2021. Baldwin claimed that he thought the gun wasn’t loaded and denied pulling the trigger. Prosecutors say that FBI testing confirmed that the weapon couldn’t have fired if Baldwin didn’t deploy it. Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed now face involuntary manslaughter charges.
Judge ordered Halls to testify truthfully and also imposed a $500 fine and required Halls to complete a firearm safety course
During the hearing, Judge Mary Marlowe Summer ordered Halls to testify truthfully in all hearings and trials involving his co-defendants. She also imposed a $500 fine and required Halls to complete a firearm safety course, the report noted. Torraco said that her client would be willing to cooperate with the state or the defendants.
The hearing was the first time that the state of New Mexico’s case had been led by newly minted special prosecutors Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis.